When does Kirkwood open? Opening day 2026-27
Target Dec 4
Kirkwood's opening day is Friday, December 4, as posted on kirkwood.com.
Opening-day alerts
A notification on this device on opening day, early in the morning, with a link to the resort’s own report. Pick your resorts:
For Mt. Rose, Sugar Bowl and Diamond Peak it comes the morning their lift page first shows a lift running; for the others, the morning of the opening day they announced, whether or not it holds. It is a heads-up, not the resort’s report: check the resort’s own site for hours and terrain before you go. One alert per resort; no account, no email, and you can turn them off here any time (what we keep).
Snow at Kirkwood
The nearest SNOTEL station, Carson Pass at 8,360 feet, measured 0 inches of snow on the ground on Sunday, October 18 (no change on the day, no change on the week).
In a median year the snowpack at Carson Pass starts building on November 7. That is the date natural snow usually begins to stay; resorts with snowmaking can open earlier when nights are cold enough, and later when a dry November leaves nothing to groom.
National Weather Service forecast at the resort
Snowfall forecast: 0 in over the next three days and 0 in over seven, from the NWS Sacramento office’s gridded forecast for the base area, read Oct 19, 12:27 PM PT.
| When | Forecast | Temp |
|---|---|---|
| This Afternoon | Sunny | High 52°F |
| Tonight | Mostly Cloudy | Low 39°F |
| Tuesday | Slight Chance Light Rain | High 51°F |
| Tuesday Night | Mostly Cloudy then Chance Light Rain | Low 37°F |
The road to Kirkwood
The farthest of these from Reno, about 95 miles: US-395 south through Carson Valley to Minden, then SR-88 west up the West Carson River canyon and over Carson Pass (8,574 feet). From South Lake Tahoe the way in is SR-89 over Luther Pass to SR-88.
Road pages with chain controls, closures and every camera: SR-88 road conditions · US-395 road conditions · US-50 road conditions. What R-1, R-2 and R-3 ask of your car is on the chain-control levels page.
Webcams near Kirkwood
The state highway cameras closest to the resort, on SR-88. They show the road, not the slopes: the resort’s own cameras are on kirkwood.com.
Live video, confirmed streaming at ; still image taken .
| Camera | Road | Elevation | From the resort |
|---|---|---|---|
| US-50 at Twin Bridges | US-50 | 6,161 ft | 9.3 mi |
| US-50 at Sierra at Tahoe / Echo Lake Eastbound | US-50 | 6,909 ft | 9.3 mi |
| US-50 at Wrights Lake | US-50 | 5,400 ft | 10.5 mi |
| Hwy 50 at Wrights Lake 2 | US-50 | 5,524 ft | 10.5 mi |
| US-50 at Myers | US-50 | 6,345 ft | 11.7 mi |
Kirkwood Mountain Resort and the highway cameras around it.
How this page decides "open"
Announced: the resort’s own site names an opening day or a target, shown here with the date we read it. It is a plan, not a promise: a warm, dry autumn moves it. This page does not follow Kirkwood’s lifts. Its opening day is the one posted on kirkwood.com, with the date we read it; snow and the forecast here are refreshed every morning. On the day, the resort’s own lift report says what is running. Alert me sends a notification on the morning of the announced opening day.
Other Tahoe resorts
All of them on one page, with snow and forecasts side by side: Tahoe ski resort opening dates. Choosing between them from Reno: ski resorts near Reno compared.
Opening plan: as posted on Kirkwood’s own site, kirkwood.com, on the date shown. Snow on the ground: USDA NRCS SNOTEL station Carson Pass (1067:CA:SNTL). Forecast: National Weather Service, api.weather.gov. Road status: Caltrans and NDOT. Nevada Explorer is not affiliated with Kirkwood Mountain Resort.